Amid mounting pressure from U.S. regulators, Apple has released the results of an independent study that estimates that the App Store ecosystem will generate $406 billion in developer sales by 2024. That’s more than double the $142 billion it generated in 2019, with most of that money (90%) coming without paying Apple a fee, MacRumors reports.
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The study was prepared by Boston University professor Andrey Fradkin and economist Jessica Burley from Analysis Group. According to their data, $277 billion came from physical goods, a category in which Apple has never charged a commission. Another $53 billion came from digital goods and services (some of which are subject to fees), and $75 billion came from in-app advertising.
The App Store ecosystem has tripled in size since 2019. Over the same period, from 2019 to 2024, U.S. developer revenues more than doubled. The growth is particularly noticeable among smaller studios earning less than $1 million per year, which increased their revenue by 76% from 2021 to 2024. At the same time, nine out of the top 10 most popular apps in the U.S. App Store are created by local developers. In total, 12.4 billion app downloads were recorded worldwide in 2024, up 36% from 2019.
The structure of spending also showed growth. In particular, the volume of purchases of physical goods through applications has more than tripled over the past three years, and spending on digital goods and advertising has almost doubled. It is noted that the main contribution to the growth of sales of physical goods was made by online retail and food delivery services. Among digital categories, the gaming industry traditionally brings in the most revenue.
Apple also listed the benefits of the App Store for developers: the ability to publish apps in 175 countries, tools like Xcode and Swift, testing via TestFlight, secure payments, analytics, and developer support. For users, the benefits included fraud protection, privacy controls, family features, and device time management.
According to Tim Cook, Apple has “been creating incredible opportunities for developers, entrepreneurs, and businesses of all sizes through the App Store for 15 years, and will continue to invest in tools, technology, and resources to help developers around the world create the next generation of apps.”
The new study comes amid ongoing legal wrangling with Epic Games. Following a court ruling, Apple was forced to allow developers to add links to alternative payment methods for purchases outside the App Store. App creators can now offer digital goods without paying Apple a fee.